So how about those bush tax cuts?
I thought those huge tax cuts, the biggest in American history, were supposed to have us swimming in revenue due to all that growth they’d create? So what happened? I mean, bush cut taxes TWICE by huge amounts. That should translate into amazing growth, right? Why are we in the mess only a few years later? Do conservative fiscal policies only maintain their “freshness” for a few years? What’s that for, a country with a life of 10 years?
What’s that you say? It was going great until the democrats took over in 2007? (You people say 2006 but they didn’t gain their one seat advantage in the Senate until 2007.) Did bush die in 2007? Wasn’t he still President?
And why don’t one of you tell us what democrats did to short circuit that incredible economy that was hummin along prior to 2007? Did they raise taxes? No. Did they spend like mad? No, spending stayed at close to what it was when republicans ran Congress. And again, bush was still President. He didn’t die, wasn’t deposed like a Honduran. He was right there. Sort of.
For the sake of argument, let’s say the democrats were able to screw things up in the few weeks between January 2007 and when the meltdown began. As a reminder, here’s the beginning timeline of the failure of the financial markets:
2007
Feb. 7: HSBC announces losses linked to U.S. subprime mortgages.
May 17: Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said growing number of mortgage defaults will not seriously harm the U.S. economy.
June: Two Bear Stearns-run hedge funds with large holdings of subprime mortgages run into large losses and are forced to dump assets. The trouble spreads to major Wall Street firms such as Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs which had loaned the firms money.
Aug.: French bank BNP Paribas freezes withdrawals in three investment funds.
Sept.: Crisis-hit UK bank Northern Rock admits financial difficulties as it asks Bank of England for assistance. Share prices fall as customers queue up to withdraw their money.
Oct. 1: Swiss bank UBS announces losses liked to U.S. subprime mortgages.
Oct. 5: Investment bank Merrill Lynch reports losses of $5.5 billion.
Oct. 15: Cititgroup announces $6.5 billion third quarter losses.
Oct. 24: Merrill Lynch announces losses to be over $8 billion.
That means in the span of LESS THAN ONE MONTH the democrats were able to destroy the robust economy created by the bush tax cuts. WOW! Either the democrats are some creative creatures or that was one precarious bush and republican-built economy! And according to some of you, the dems were able to pull this off not just in LESS THAN ONE MONTH but without passing a single spending bill! AMAZING!
See, this is the kind of thing that will be all over the place in 2010. And 2012. And hopefully forever as we drive a stake through the heart of conservatism.
